February 6, 2009 (Rabbi Popky)
D'var Torah: L'Hadashoth -
This Shabbat, we read the famous passage of the Israelites crossing Yam Suf ("Reed Sea" - not Red Sea!).
Of course, we are all familiar with the miraculous parting of the waters that allowed the Israelites to cross over on dry land and escape the Egyptians. But did you know that the waters of the Jordan River also parted when the Israelites entered into Eretz Yisrael? When the kohanim entered the river with the aron, (Ark) the waters of the river miraculously parted and once again the Israelites crossed over on dry land.
So why don't we know about it? Why has that story - even though it is in the Bible - not remained in our consciousness?
One of our commentators, Rabbi A. Chain, has an interesting answer: "The splitting of the Yam Suf endures in the memory of the people on account of Shirat HaYam, the song they sang at the Sea. The [miracle of the] splitting of the Jordan has not endured. There was no song."
We are all familiar with how music helps us remember things. From the alphabet song to those terrible commercials we can't get out of our heads, we recognize that a melody can be a powerful aid to memorization. Thus the te'amim - the musical accents through which we chant Torah and other biblical texts - serve as aids to memory. (They also serve as punctuation and interpretation.) Traditionally, we also chant other texts as we study; it is almost impossible to study Talmud without the sing-song cadence associated with the Yeshivah.
However, I would like to expand the meaning of "song" beyond just music and melody and understand it as referring to a sense of joy and thanksgiving. These were, after all, the feelings of the Israelites as they celebrated their salvation from enslavement and death at the hands of the Egyptians. And they are the central emotions of our tradition. To quote Rabbi Harold Kushner,
"To life - these two words represent so much of what Judaism is about. They suggest first that Judaism is about how to live, not just what to believe. They convey an optimistic attitude toward life, investing our energy in living..., asking us to enjoy the pleasures of this life.... As the traditional Jewish toast..., To life conveys a sense of exuberance, a readiness to enjoy the pleasures of this world..., and invites us to look at all that God has created and find it good...." (To Life! A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking)
May we add our song - our joy, our gratitude, our exuberance - to the celebration of this and every Shabbat, and to all that we do as Jews. Then shall the beauty of our tradition endure, for us and for our children.
Of course, we are all familiar with the miraculous parting of the waters that allowed the Israelites to cross over on dry land and escape the Egyptians. But did you know that the waters of the Jordan River also parted when the Israelites entered into Eretz Yisrael? When the kohanim entered the river with the aron, (Ark) the waters of the river miraculously parted and once again the Israelites crossed over on dry land.
So why don't we know about it? Why has that story - even though it is in the Bible - not remained in our consciousness?
One of our commentators, Rabbi A. Chain, has an interesting answer: "The splitting of the Yam Suf endures in the memory of the people on account of Shirat HaYam, the song they sang at the Sea. The [miracle of the] splitting of the Jordan has not endured. There was no song."
We are all familiar with how music helps us remember things. From the alphabet song to those terrible commercials we can't get out of our heads, we recognize that a melody can be a powerful aid to memorization. Thus the te'amim - the musical accents through which we chant Torah and other biblical texts - serve as aids to memory. (They also serve as punctuation and interpretation.) Traditionally, we also chant other texts as we study; it is almost impossible to study Talmud without the sing-song cadence associated with the Yeshivah.
However, I would like to expand the meaning of "song" beyond just music and melody and understand it as referring to a sense of joy and thanksgiving. These were, after all, the feelings of the Israelites as they celebrated their salvation from enslavement and death at the hands of the Egyptians. And they are the central emotions of our tradition. To quote Rabbi Harold Kushner,
"To life - these two words represent so much of what Judaism is about. They suggest first that Judaism is about how to live, not just what to believe. They convey an optimistic attitude toward life, investing our energy in living..., asking us to enjoy the pleasures of this life.... As the traditional Jewish toast..., To life conveys a sense of exuberance, a readiness to enjoy the pleasures of this world..., and invites us to look at all that God has created and find it good...." (To Life! A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking)
May we add our song - our joy, our gratitude, our exuberance - to the celebration of this and every Shabbat, and to all that we do as Jews. Then shall the beauty of our tradition endure, for us and for our children.